Put down the candy. It's for the children. Have a wonderful Easter. You don't need junk food to help it be good. Just think how great you will feel on Monday if you eat healthy all weekend.

I am having a great start to MY Easter weekend. I just finished a pita/ham/spinach sandwich for my late night snack. 216 calories, protein, carbs, veg...NUTRITION! I will feel FANTASTIC when I wake up tomorrow morning and do the warm up portion of my new exercise dvd.

Care to join me in the quest for joy without junk food? It doesn't have to be difficult.

I swore off holiday candy when I started 5 years ago and have kept my pledge - Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter.

I still have occasional treats and candy, but not holiday candy. Ever. I don't really miss it, because I know how I react to candy, I am never satisfied with one piece, I want another and another and another. Then, I don't like how I feel about me.

When I don't eat the candy, I don't really miss it and I don't have any bad feelings. And I keep maintaining my weight loss. Seems like a win!

No Easter candy for me or Easter dinner. My dad's working and my grandmother's been sick so I don't think anyone is cooking a big Easter dinner. I don't think I would eat it anyway. After losing some of the weight I realize that I don't have to get off the diet for every holiday that comes around. There will be more holidays. And, I think there is much more to Easter then the candy and food. So, thus, I am focusing on the real reason of Easter, and I am ignoring the candy and food.

No Easter candy for me or Easter dinner. My dad's working and my grandmother's been sick so I don't think anyone is cooking a big Easter dinner. I don't think I would eat it anyway. After losing some of the weight I realize that I don't have to get off the diet for every holiday that comes around. There will be more holidays. And, I think there is much more to Easter then the candy and food. So, thus, I am focusing on the real reason of Easter, and I am ignoring the candy and food.

That's how I feel, my friends tell me but is only one day or one time, but I don't see it that way because there are always a million excuses or celebrations to eat.. I am staying off Easter candy or the Easter dinner. I am going to the movies with my kids tomorrow and I am taking my on snack to the movie theater don't want an excuse to eat junk food.

I'm doing Easter brunch. It's a buffet, so I'll probably indulge in grilled meats (at least a couple servings though - I love prime rib and steak), a piece of eggs benedict, and loads of veggies/salad. Dinner will be a big, delicious salad. And no snacking that day - even on Easter candy!

My mom likes to give me an Easter basket every year even though I'm pushing 40. This is a huge problem b/c I love Easter candy. I think the only way for me to survive is to make myself a sample of the Easter basket that is only a 150-200 calorie serving and give the rest away. (Actually, I will probably throw it away because I can't be trusted to not eat the candy before I give it away).

The Easter basket situation is especially painful b/c my entire family (except for the kiddies) are obese/overweight and actively trying to lose weight. It is strange how we adhere to traditions that none of us want.

Can you tell your mom you LOVE Easter Baskets, you want to get them, but can the treats be NON food treats? I can think of a ton of cute things to put in an Easter Basket that are calorie free. You know those little plastic eggs that snap together - you could put a coupon for a pedicure in one! or movie passes!

My ideal Easter Basket would be one bar of amazing dark chocolate (like World Market's dark chocolate sea salt), a cute pair of socks, Easter Bunny earrings, stuffed bunny, fizzy bath ball shaped like an Easter Egg and a coupon for a pedicure.

Trix-ride your bicycle around the countryside and look at the animals. Live in the city? Ride around the park and watch the people and their pets. Watch the children playing. Today is Easter...go watch families having Easter egg hunts.

Go for a drive and then walk around a little. Take along a pear and a low-fat string cheese for a snack. Or take one of those boston cream pie yogurts. Yogurt has protein, so helps you feel full.

Gotta have chocolate? How about adding 1 tblsp of choc syrup to ff/sf vanilla yogurt. Measure it. Good for you compared to Easter candy!

Believe me, I get my treats in. I wouldn't make it without them. But I try really hard to find things that can be treats and still have nutritional value. My newest thing is to make some kind of protein into a treat becuase it is filling.

If I can do this, anyone can. I only lost 1 lb this week, but the weather was crappy, so I couldn't ride my bicycle except one day, so I walked as much as I could even in the snow and wind. It would've been a LOT worse if I had eaten Easter candy instead!

I swore off holiday candy when I started 5 years ago and have kept my pledge - Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter.

I still have occasional treats and candy, but not holiday candy. Ever. I don't really miss it, because I know how I react to candy, I am never satisfied with one piece, I want another and another and another. Then, I don't like how I feel about me.

When I don't eat the candy, I don't really miss it and I don't have any bad feelings. And I keep maintaining my weight loss. Seems like a win!

Really, for me, making it a black/white, yes/no is so much easier. It's almost cheating because then I don't have to think about it on a case by case basis. If I SOMETIMES ate holiday candy, it would be so much more effort, I'd have to be able to stop at a reasonable point, count the calories, budget the rest of my day, etc etc. NOT eating holiday candy makes everything so much simpler.

Sometimes, I wonder if there's something wrong with me that I can't handle some things in moderation and have I taken the easy way out to just say "no." But ultimately, it is working for me and I really don't feel horribly deprived or unhappy.

Some folks say that when they deny themselves something they want, they just want it more and more until they pop and eat too much. That doesn't happen to me - the less I eat something, the less I want it. If I eat it again, I want it again. If I think about an M&M (for example), I remember what it tastes like and I think "hmmm, that would be good" (but almost in an intellectual way, not in a WANTING way). If I actually eat an M&M, then I want a BAG of M&Ms, I want want want and it's hard to ignore.

I'm the same way. If I eat one sweet, I will just want more. I went to lunch with my parents and brother after church today, and they all got desserts which sat on the table as we ate. I felt like an alcoholic with drinks in front of me. I knew if I gave in, all my work this week would be for nothing and I would have that awful feeling of torment. My brain would start saying, "more, more, more!" Right now I feel very good and have no desire to go to the store for "more."